No.  6. 


-Q 


\  ■  ■ 


i-v '  ■''ii.i.. 


'  I.  { 


LETTER 


THE  PRINCIPLES 

or  THE 

MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


PRINTED  I  OR  THE 

iCmrtfcan  ^nitavCan  ii^ssotfatton. 


BOSTON, 

BOWLES  AND  DEARBORN,  72  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

1827. 


Price  5  Cents. 


The  Executive  Committee  of  the  American  Uiiitaiian  Association 
have  been  induced  to  publish  this  as  one  of  their  series  of  tracts,  by 
a  conviction  that  the  subject  discussed  is  highly  important,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  here  treated  cannot  fail  “  to  promote  the  inte¬ 
rests  of  pure  Christianity  throughout  our  countiy  ” 


BOSTON, 

Isaac  R.  Butts  &  Co.  Printers. 


LETTER. 


To 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the 

American  Unitarian  Association. 

Gentlemen, 

Debarred  as  I  am  at  present,  from  the  exercises  of 
the  pulpit,  by  the  feeble  state  of  my  health,  and  greatly 
solicitous  for  the  success  of  that  appeal,  which  has  re¬ 
cently  been  made  to  Unitarian  Christians,  for  the  cause  of 
Christianity  in  India,  I  would  ask  for  permission,  through 
you,  to  address  a  few  thoughts  to  the  members  of 
your  Association,  upon  the  princijples  of  the  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprise.  There  have  long  been,  and  still  are, 
as  I  think,  both  great  vagueness,  and  great  extrava¬ 
gance  of  language  upon  this  subject,  alike  among  the 
friends  and  the  opposers  of  the  cause  of  foreign  mis¬ 
sions.  Some  of  our  orthodox  brethren  have  taken  the 
ground,  that  all  the  heathen,  merely  as  such,  are  con¬ 
demned  to  endless,  and  to  irremediable  misery,  unless 
indeed  they  shall  be  converted  to  Christianity  ;  a  doc¬ 
trine  from  which  Unitarians  turn  with  horror ;  and  others 
of  them,  in  advocating  the  enterprise,  in  their  care  to 
use  terms  less  objectionable,  have  employed  those  only 
which  are  too  indefinite  to  bring  home  a  strong  sense  of 
its  obligation  to  any  mind,  which  was  not  previously  dis- 


4 


©N  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


158 


posed  to  engage  in  it.  And  most  Unitarians,  resting  on 
the  principles,  that  men  will  be  judged  according  to  what 
they  have,  and  not  according  to  what  they  have  not ; 
and  that,  when  God  will  have  any  section  of  the  heathen 
world  to  be  enlightened  by  Christianity,  he  will  himself 
indicate  his  purpose,  and  provide  the  means  for  its  ac¬ 
complishment,  have  either  thought  but  little  upon  the 
subject,  or  have  waited  for  very  distinct  instructions 
respecting  their  duty  in  the  service.  A  new  era,  how¬ 
ever,  seems  now  to  have  begun  among  Unitarians,  on  the 
question  of  the  duty  of  Christians  to  unite  in  the  work  of 
extending  the  knowledge,  and  the  influences  of  our  reli¬ 
gion.  The  primary  objects  for  which  your  Association 
was  formed,  I  know,  were  “  to  diffuse  the  knowledge, 
and  to  promote  the  interests,  of  pure  Christianity  through- 
nut  our  country^  But  I  observed  that  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Association,  a  resolution  was  unanimous¬ 
ly  passed,  “that  this  Association  views  with  high  gra¬ 
tification  the  prospect,  which  is  opened  of  a  more  ex¬ 
tended  mutual  acquaintance  and  cooperation  among 
Unitarian  Christians  throughout  the  world.”  This  shows 
that  your  thoughts  have  been  directed  to  the  situation  of 
other  lands,  and  the  extent  and  activity  of  your  opera¬ 
tions  recommended  an  address  to  you  in  preference  to 
any  other  mode  of  communicating  my  views  to  those 
whom  I  am  desirous  to  reach.  I  hope,  therefore,  that,  as 
my  attention  has  been  for  some  time  employed  on  this  sub¬ 
ject,  I  may,  without  exposure  to  the  imputation  of  arro¬ 
gance,  call  the  attention  of  Unitarian  Christians  amono;  us 
to  the  general, — the  original  question,  in  regard  to  foreign 
missions.  This  is  a  question,  which^  I  think,  has  not  yet 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


150 


5 


obtained  the  attention,  which  it  claims  from  us;  and  a 
fair  and  full  consideration  of  which,  it  seems  to  me,  can 
hardly  fail  to  bring  Christians  of  every  name,  to  a  cordial 
cooperation  in  every  well  devised  scheme,  for  the  great¬ 
est  possible  extension  of  the  privileges,  and  the  blessings 
of  Christianity. 

I  would  then  propose  to  the  members  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Unitarian  Association,  and  to  all  Unitarian  Christians, 
the  inquiries,  the  missionary  spirit,  what  is  it  ?  What  are 
its  principles  ?  Are  they,  or  are  they  not  among  the 
essential  principles  of  our  religion  ?  Are  they  or  are  they 
not  the  principles  by  which  our  Lord  and  his  apostles 
were  actuated  ?  Does  the  cause,  or  does  it  not,  demand  the 
sympathy,  the  earnestness,  and  the  aid  of  every  Christian? 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  those,  and  they  are  probably 
not  few,  who  will  not  at  once  be  disposed  to  view  the 
missionary  enterprise,  as  we  now  see  it,  as  essentially  the 
very  enterprise  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles.  I  know,  too, 
that  there  are  those  who  consider  the  missionary  spirit,  as 
often  as  they  hear  of  it,  but  as  one  of  the  many  forms 
which  an  ungoverned  religious  enthusiasm  assumes,  and 
that  there  are  those  also,  who  are  accustomed  to  view  it 
even  more  unfavourably ;  and  but  as  one  of  the  forms, 
which  are  assumed  by  ambition,  or  by  avarice,  for  mere 
party,  selfish,  or  worldly  objects.  There  are  those,  who 
will  meet  our  first  suggestion  of  this  subject  with  the 
inquiries,  have  not  the  heathen  as.^ood  a  right  to  their 
religion,  as  you  have  to  yours  ?  Is  not  their  religion  as 
dear  to  tliem,  as  yours  is  to  you  ?  Are  they  not  as  sincere 
believers  as  you  are ;  and  will  not  God  accept  them  in 
their  sincerity?”  We  shall  be  asked,  “  what  injury  results 

VOL-  I.  1* 


6 


OiV  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


160 


to  you  from  the  faith,  or  practices  of  the  heathen  world  ? 
Or,  who  has  commissioned  you  to  quench  the  fire  of 
their  sacrifices,  and  to  overthrow  their  altars  '?  Think 
you,  that  they  will  be  cast  out  from  the  presence  and 
favour  of  God,  in  the  life  to  come,  because  they  know  not 
him  of  whom  they  have  never  heard  ;  or  that,  at  the  bar 
of  heaven  they  will  be  tried  by  a  law,  which  they  have 
never  had  an  opportunity  to  know  ?  Are  they  not  as 
happy  in  their  faith  as  you  are  in  yours ;  and,  if  God 
intends  their  conversion  to  Christianity,  will  he  not  him¬ 
self  bring  them  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel  V’ — These  are 
inquiries  which  are  abroad,  and  which  are  to  be  fairly 
met.  They  involve  objections  to  the  missionary  cause, 
which  ought  to  be  fairly  answ'ered.  They  may  be,  and 
they  are,  proposed  by  mere  cavillers  ;  by  men  who  care 
not  for  religion  in  any  form ;  and  w'ho  would  advocate, 
or  oppose  any  thing,  by  which  they  may  either  justify 
their  owm  irreligion,  or  thwart,  and  vex  those,  who,  they 
think,  are  mere  pretenders  to  more  religion  than  they 
have  themselves.  But  they  are  made,  too,  by  men, 
whom  they  restrain  from  sympathy  in  the  missionary 
cause,  only  because  it  has  not  been  viewed  by  them  in 
all  its  bearings,  and  obligations.  They  are  made  by  men, 
who  have  been  disgusted  with  the  cause,  or  at  least  have 
been  rendered  averse  from  it,  by  the  overcharged  state¬ 
ments  that  have  been  made  in  defence  of  it ;  by  the  inju¬ 
dicious  manner  in  which  it  has  often  been  conducted  ;  by 
the  means  which  have  been  employed  in  its  support  ;  by 
the  spirit  and  manner  of  some  of  its  agents ;  and,  by 
what  has  been  thought  to  be  the  waste  of  treasure  that 
has  been  made,  in  most  ostentatiously  doing  nothing. 
Let  us  then  meet  these  inquiries,  as  the  objections  of  fair 


IGl 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE 


minds ;  and  answer  them,  by  an  appeal  to  principles, 
which  fair  minds  will  readily  acknowledge.  Ii^  other 
words,  let  us  follow  back  the  missionary  enterprise  into 
its  essential  principles.  Let  us  consider  the  subject,  not 
as  belonging  to  one  or  another  of  the  parties  of  Christen¬ 
dom,  but,  purely  as  one  belonging  to  our  common  in¬ 
terests,  and  duties,  as  disciples  of  Christ.  Let  it  even  be 
forgotten,  if  it  may  be,  that  any  missionary  efforts  are 
now  making ;  that  any  missionary  societies  are  now  exist¬ 
ing  ;  and  let  us  dispassionately  consider  the  enterprise, 
as  a  subject  for  speculation  ;  as  a  question  upon  which  we 
are  to  determine,  what  is  our  duty  as  Christians  ?  If  it  be 
not  a  work,  which  God  will  have  us  to  do,  the  sooner  it 
comes  to  naught,  the  better.  But  if  it  be  his  will  that 
we  engage  in  it,  let  us  not  oppose  it,  lest  haply  w'e  be 
found  to  fight  against  God. 

I  resume,  then,  the  inquiry,  the  missionary  spirit, — 
what  is  it  ?  what  are  its  principles  7 

I  answer,  the^rs^  principle  of  a  missionary  spirit,  or 
a  spirit  which  is  earnest  in  the  cause  of  diffusing  the 
knowledge  and  influence  of  our  religion, — is,  a  Christian 
sense  of  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  those,  who 
are  living  under  the  influences  of  heathenism,  and  of  false 
religion. 

The  question  arises,  what  is  a  Christian  sense  of  the 
religious  and  moral  condition  of  those,  who  are  living 
under  the  influences  of  heathenism,  and  of  false  religion  ? 

I  know  of  but  one  way,  in  which  we  can  obtain  a  sat¬ 
isfactory  answer  to  this  inquiry ;  or,  an  answer  to  it,  with 
which  we  ought  to  be  satisfied ;  and  that  is,  by  endeav¬ 
ouring  as  well  as  we  may,  to  see  the  world,  to  the  extent 


8  ON  THE  PRINCIi^LES  OP  THE  162 

« 

to  wliicb  it  is  unenlightened  by  our  religion,  as  our 
Lord  and  his  Apostles  saw  it ;  to  see  the  religious  and 
moral  condition  of  our  fellow  creatures,  who  are  un¬ 
blessed  with  Christianity,  as  it  is  exposed  to  us  in  the 
light  of  the  will  and  purposes  of  God,  in  regard  to  the 
world,  as  they  are  made  known  to  us  in  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment.  No  one, — I  mean,  no  sincere  believer  in  Christ, — 
can  doubt  whether  he  ought  to  view  those  who  are  with¬ 
out  the  pale  of  Christianity,  as  our  religion  itself  views 
them ;  or  whether  we  ought  to  feel,  to  cherish,  and  to 
exercise  towards  them,  the  sentiments  which  our  religion 
expresses  in  regard  to  them.  What,  then,  are  the  views 
and  sentiments  of  our  religion,  in  respect  to  the  heathen 
world,  and  to  all  who  are  without  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  ? 

1  say  not,  for  Christianity  does  not  say,  that  among  the 
heathen,  and  the  believers  of  a  false  religion,  none  are 
virtuous.  There  were  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  and  there 
are  now,  virtuous  and  good  men  under  every  form  of 
religion  in  the  world.  Nor  do  I  say,  for  our  religion 
does  not  say,  that  the  offerers  of  a  false  worship,  as  far 
as  this  worship  is  offered  in  simplicity,  and  sincerity  of 
heart,  are  not  accepted  by  God.  I  have  not  a  doubt 
upon  the  question,  whether  they  are  accepted  by  him. 
I  believe,  for  I  think  that  our  religion  teaches  us,  that 
in  every  nation,  he  that  fears  God,  according  to  the  best 
conceptions  which  he  has  of  him,  and  does  righteousness, 
as  far  as  he  understands  the  law  of  righteousness,  is  spir¬ 
itually  a  child  of  God,  and  will  not  fail  of  a  part  in  the 
inheritance  of  the  children  of  God.  And  I  further 
believe,  and  doubt  not,  that  no  one  who  has  lived,  or  who 


153 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


9 


will  live,  from  the  necessity  of  his  condition,  ignorant  of 
the  true  God,  in  false  religion,  and  in  an  idolatrous  wor¬ 
ship,  will  at  last  be  condemned,  because  he  knew  not 
what  he  could  not  know ;  and  did  not,  what  he  had  not 
the  means  of  understanding  that  it  was  his  duty  to  do. 
These,  I  hope,  will  be  considered  as  ample  concessions.*" 
But,  with  all  these  concessions  distinctly  before  us,  let 
us  view  the  heathen  world, — the  world  that  is  without 
Christianity, — as  our  religion  views  it,  and  as  it  actually 
is.  I  would  not,  if  I  could,  excite  a  false,  an  artificial 
sympathy,  in  the  cause  of  missions.  Christianity  needs 
no  plotting,  no  trick,  no  concealment,  no  overcharged 
representations,  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  of  its  pur¬ 
poses.  But  let  us  not  shut  our  eyes  against  the  truth. 

*  I  here  quote  with  pleasure  the  sentiments  of  Macknight  upon 
the  question  of  the  salvation  of  heathens.  I  do  not  know  any  other 
writer,  of  those  who  are  called  orthodox,  who  has  treated  this  sub¬ 
ject  with  equal  liberality  of  feeling.  “  That  the  pious  heathens 
should  have  their  faith  counted  to  them  for  righteousness  at  the 
judgment,  notwithstanding  it  may  have  been  deficient  in  many  par¬ 
ticulars,  and  even  erroneous,  is  not  unreasonable  ;  provided  in  these 
instances  of  error,  they  have  used  their  best  endeavours  to  know 
the  truth,  and  have  not  been  led  by  these  errors  into  habitual  sin.*** 
For  it  can  no  longer  be  pretended,  that  by  making  faith  the  means 
of  salvation,  the  gospel  hath  consigned  all  the  heathens  to  damna¬ 
tion.  Neither  can  God  be  accused  of  partiality,  in  conferring  the 
benefit  of  revelation  upon  so  small  a  portion  of  the  human  race,  in 
the  false  notion,  that  the  actual  knowledge  of  revelation  is  necessary 
to  salvation.  For  although  the  number  of  those  who  have  lived 
without  revelation,  hath  hitherto  been  much  greater  than  of  those 
who  have  enjoyed  that  benefit,  no  unrighteousness  can  be  imputed 
to  God,  since  he  hath  not  excluded  those  from  salvation,  who  have 
been  denied  revelation.”  Translation  of  the  Apostolical  Epistles, 
vol.  1.  pp.  197 — 201. 


10  ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  10  i 

Let  US  not  view  heathenism,  and  false  religion,  only  as 
they  are  seen  in  the  characters  of  a  few  individuals,  who 
stand  out  in  most  honorable  prominence,  in  the  picture 
which  has  come  down  to  us  of  their  age;  and  who, 
against  every  adverse  influence,  were  illustrious  as  models 
of  a  piety  and  virtue,  which  would  have  made  them  wor¬ 
thy  of  honour  in  any  age.  Nor  let  us  determine  the  cha¬ 
racter  of  heathenism,  and  of  false  religion,  by  considering 
them  as  they  are  manifested  merely  in  their  gorgeous 
shows ;  in  their  pomp  and  splendour  ;  or,  as  they  are 
sometimes  brought  before  us,  in  their  most  simple  and 
harmless  rites.  They  have  other  features,  which  are  the 
indices  of  another  character.  They  have  other  princi¬ 
ples,  and  interests,  and  ends,  than  are  to  be  seen  in  a 
casual  glance  at  them  ;  other  practices  and  consequences, 
which  open  to  us  very  diflerent  views  of  their  nature  and 
character ;  and  which  are  suited  to  excite  a  correspond¬ 
ing  difference  of  sentiment,  in  regard  to  those  who  are 
under  their  influence.  Let  us,  then,  view  them  in  the 
light  in  which  they  are  brought  before  us  by  the  senti¬ 
ments,  the  feelings,  and  conduct,  of  Christ  and  his  apos¬ 
tles,  in  regard  to  them. 

In  this  aspect  of  the  subject,  I  would  say  that,  even  if 
there  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  our  religion 
any  clear  and  explicit  expressions  of  its  sentiments  in 
respect  to  the  heathen,  and  to  all  to  whom  a  knowledge 
of  it  has  not  been  imparted,  it  still  would  not  be  doubtful 
what  are  these  sentiments ;  and  what  are  the  feelings 
with  which  we  should  view  the  world,  which  is  without 
the  knowledge  of  Christ.  Take  only  the  conduct  of  our 
Lord  and  of  his  apostles,  their  labours,  and  their  suffer- 


105 


jriSSIONAllV  tM'ERrillSE. 


11 


ings  even  to  death,  in  the  cause  of  extending  and  es¬ 
tablishing  our  religion ;  in  the  cause  of  opposing,  and  of 
exterminating  error,  superstition  and  sin ;  in  the  cause 
of  rescuing  men  from  the  delusion,  and  the  debasement, 
of  idolatry  and  of  all  false  worship ;  and  who  that  be¬ 
lieves  that  Christianity  is  a  dispensation  from  God,  can 
doubt  whether  the  rescue  of  men  from  this  delusion,  and 
this  debasement, — whether  the  recovery  of  heathens,  and 
of  those  who  are  living  under  the  influences  of  false  reli- 
gion,  from  their  errors,  superstitions  and  sins,  was  in 
itself  a  cause  as  great  and  important,  as  essential  to  hu¬ 
man  good  and  to  human  happiness,  as  this  plan  in  the 
divine  economy,  and  these  toils,  and  privations,  and  suf¬ 
ferings  for  its  accomplishment,  were  themselves  great 
and  peculiar  ?  Let  us  conceive,  as  distinctly  as  we  can, 
of  the  character  of  our  Lord.  Let  us  bring  him  before 
our  minds,  as  he  is  brought  before  us  in  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  as  the  Son  of  God ;  the  long  promised  Messiah, 
and  Saviour,  whom  the  Father  had  sanctified  and  sent 
into  the  world,  for  the  express  end,  “  that  the  world 
through  him  might  be  saved.”  Let  us  bring  him  before 
our  minds,  associated,  as  he  is,  throughout  the  New  Tes¬ 
tament,  in  his  mission,  and  life,  and  death,  if  I  may  so 
express  myself,  with  the  deep  interest  of  God  himself,  in 
the  cause  of  suppressing  every  where  idolatry,  and  false 
religion ;  and  of  recovering  men  from  the  degradation, 
the  vices  and  crimes,  to  which  ignorance  of  Limself,  and 
superstition  had  brought  them.  Let  us  conceive  of  this 
most  exalted,  this  most  holy  of  all  the  messengers  of  God, 
labouring  daily,  and  daily  suffering,  that  he  might  bring 
men  to  the  truth,  and  sanctify  them  by  the  truth ;  en¬ 
during  the  scoffs,  the  insults,  the  artifices,  and  the  perse- 


12 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


IGt) 


cutions  of  those,  whom  he  came  “  to  save,  and  to  bless, 
by  turning  them  from  their  iniquities  unto  God and  at 
last,  in  the  cause  of  that  salvation  which  he  preached, 
and  for  which  alone  he  lived,  humbling  himself  to 
death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross.”  Let  us  hear  him, 
when  he  sends  forth  his  apostles  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature,  saying  to  them,  “  he  that  believeth,  and 
is  baptized,  shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not, 
shall  be  condemned and  let  us  follow  these  apostles, 
who  have  given  up  every  thing  of  this  world,  that  they 
might  preach  every  where  “  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ,”  as  they  spread  themselves  through  Syria,  Phe- 
nicia,  the  populous  provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  and  of  Ma¬ 
cedonia  and  Greece,  comprehending  the  cities  of  Anti¬ 
och,  of  Lystra  and  Derbe,  of  Thessalonica  and  Phillippi, 
of  Corinth  and  Ephesus,  of  Athens  and  Rome ;  and,  if 
we  should  believe  tradition,  visiting  even  Spain,  and  the 
shores  of  Gaul  and  Britain.  Like  their  master,  they  are 
willing  to  spend,  and  to  be  spent,  in  the  work ;  and  they 
“  account  all  things  to  be  but  loss,  for  the  excellency  of 
the  knowledge  of  Christ;”  for  the  privilege,  as  widely  as 
possible,  of  extending  it  over  the  earth ;  and,  like  their 
Master,  every  one  of  them  dies  in  the  cause ;  and  most 
of  them,  the  victims  of  their  fidelity  in  it.  Suppose,  then, 
that  our  religion  had  not  given  to  us  any  very  definite 
expressions  of  the  religious  and  moral  state  of  those,  who 
were  living  in  heathenism,  and  false  religion.  Must  not 
their  condition,  I  would  ask,  have  been  most  deplorable, 
to  have  excited  this  sympathy,  this  interest,  stronger  than 
death,  in  their  recovery ;  to  have  led  to  this  wonderful 
plan,  in  God’s  moral  providence,  and  to  these  wonderful 


167 


'^MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


13 


means,  for  their  rescue,  their  salvation  1  and,  can  it  be 
a  question,  what  is  the  interest,  the  earnestness,  which 
we  should  feel,  in  the  cause  of  dilfusing  the  knowledge, 
the  spirit,  and  the  blessings  of  our  religion  ? 

But  the  language  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  apostles,  in 
reference  to  the  religious  and  moral  condition  of  those 
who  are  without  the  gospel,  is  not  equivocal.  Interpreted 
as  they  should  be,  by  the  import  which  his  own,  and  the 
conduct  of  his  apostles  have  given  to  them,  the  expres¬ 
sions,  surely,  are  full  of  most  solemn  and  affecting  mean¬ 
ing,  “  the  Son  of  man  came,  to  seek,  and  to  save,  that 
which  was  lost.”  Again,  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life :  for, 
God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world,  to  condemn  the 
world,  but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved.” 
Again ;  “  They  that  are  whole  have  no  need  of  a  physi¬ 
cian,  but  they  that  are  sick.  I  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance.”  Again;  “I  am 
come  a  light  into  the  world,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
me,  may  not  abide  in  darkness,  but  may  have  the  light 
of  life.”  And,  in  conformity  with  this  language,  the 
apostle  of  the  gentiles  represents  them  as  “  without  God 
in  the  world,”  and  without  any  rational  hope.  He  says 
to  them,  “  ye  were  darkness  ;  but  now  are  ye  light  in  the 
Lord.”  “  Ye  were  afar  off;”  but  now  are  “made  nigh 
by  the  blood  of  Christ.”  But  instead  of  quoting  detached 
expressions  on  this  subject,  let  me  refer  any  one,  who 
would  conceive  rightly  of  it,  to  the  three  first  chapters  of 
the  epistle  to  the  Romans.  Here  is,  a  picture  of  degra¬ 
dation,  of  sin  and  misery,  which  will  prepare  any  one, 

VOL.  I.  2 


11 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


168 


who  has  read  the  evangelists  with  any  serious  attention, 
for  the  inference  of  the  author  of  this  epistle.  “We 
have  proved  both  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  that  they  are  all 
under  sin.”  Our  Lord,  indeed,  uttered  no  denunciations 
against  the  mere  offerers  of  a  false  worship ;  nor  did 
his  apostles,  great  as  was  their  zeal  for  the  conversion  of 
men,  pronounce  anathemas  against  them,  merely  as  idola¬ 
ters.  But  our  religion  contemplates  idolatry,  and  all 
false  religion,  even  in  their  best  state,  and  least  corrupt¬ 
ing  influence,  as  a  delusion,  from  which  God  in  his 
mercy  would  rescue  those  who  are  living  under  them. 
It  also  brings  idolatry  and  false  religion  before  us,  as  the 
history  of  all  time  represents  them,  as  the  prolific  moth¬ 
ers  of  all  the  vices  and  crimes,  that  can  debase  our 
nature  and  disqualify  for  heaven.  In  the  view  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  the  world  w^as  worshipping,  “  they  knew' 
not  what.”  Men  were  not  only  in  darkness,  but  were 
“  loving  darkness  better  than  light,  because  their  deeds 
w’ere  evil.”  They  were  immortal  beings  ;  yet  “  aliena¬ 
ted  from  the  life  of  God,  through  the  ignorance  that  was 
in  them  ;”  “  given  up  to  uncleanness,  and  to  vile  af¬ 
fections  ;”  degraded  from  the  condition,  and  lost  to 
the  purposes,  for  which  God  designed  them.  Let  it 
be  admitted  then,  that  there  w'ere  those,  both  among 
Jew's  and  Gentiles,  who,  before  they  had  heard  the 
teaching  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  apostles,  w'ere  prepared 
to  sit  dow'ii  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Still,  the  records  of  the  evange- 
lists,  of  the  apostles,  and  of  profane  history,  alike  assure 
us,  that  offences  both  against  piety  and  virtue,  w'hich 
are  not  to  be  named  among  Christians,  w'ere  not  only 


169 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


15 


established  by  usage,  but  were  sanctioned  by  all  the 
authority,  which  the  opinion  and  example  of  the  master 
spirits  of  tlie  age  could  give  to  them.  We  do  not  vio¬ 
late  charity,  when  we  say  of  the  decidedly  virtuous 
heathen  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  that  they  were  few ; 
that  they  shone  as  stars,  appearing  here  and  there  in  a 
night,  when  heavy  and  black  clouds  had  gathered,  and 
were  rolling  tumultuously  through  the  air,  accumulating 
in  their  progress  new  elements  of  a  storm,  which  was 
threatening  to  burst  with  tremendous  violence  upon  the 
earth.  And  I  would  ask,  has  any  important  change, 
since  that  time,  been  made  in  the  character  of  heath¬ 
enism,  and  of  false  religion  ^  If  not,  what  should  be 
our  sentiments  of  them?  And,  what  are  our  obligations 
in  regard  to  those,  who  know  not  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  he  has  sent  ? 

“  While  Paul  waited  at  Athens,”  as  we  are  told,  his 
spirit  was  stirred  in  him,  when  he  saw  the  city  wholly 
given  up  to  idolatry.”  This  translation  of  the  words  of 
the  evangelists,  however,  expresses  but  feebly  the  emo¬ 
tions,  which  were  excited  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle, 
when  he  saw  every  where  about  him  the  images,  that 
were  worshipped  by  the  Athenians.  So  zealous,  indeed, 
as  is  well  known,  were  the  Greeks,  and  especially  the 
Athenians,  for  this  species  of  worship,  that,  not  satisfied 
with  the  number  of  deities,  which  had  come  down  to  them 
from  their  fatliers,  they  not  only  often  consecrated  new 
ones  of  their  own  invention,  but  freely  adopted  also  the 
gods  of  other  nations.  Nay,  so  careful  were  they  not 
to  omit  the  acknowledgment  of  any  divine  power,  whe¬ 
ther  celestial,  terrestrial ,  or  infernal,  which  they  even 


16 


Oi\  THE  PRINCirLES  OF  THE 


170 


suspected  might  claim  their  homage,  that  they  erected 
altars  to  unknown  Gods ;  until  they  had  no  less  than 
thirty  thousand  objects  of  worship.*  Paul,  therefore, 
saw  the  city,  not  only  given  up  wholly  to  idolatry,  but 
full  of  the  images  of  the  gods  of  Greece.  He  saw  the 
city,  the  most  renowned  in  the  world  for  the  triumphs  of 
art,  the  most  splendid  on  the  earth  in  its  temples,  the 
proudest  in  its  schools  of  philosophy ;  the  cityj  to  which 
oven  imperial  Rome  sent  the  most  distinguished  of  its 
youth,  to  train  them  for  the  forum,  and  to  qualify  them  to 
be  iiistructers  at  home,  filled  with  idols.  He  saw  the 
city,  which  was  the  centre  of  the  learning  of  the  world, 
lying  in  the  darkness  of  utter  ignorance  of  the  one  true 
God.  He  saw  the  human  mind,  there,  at  once  exalted 
by  every  earthly  attainment,  and  depraved  and  debased, 
by  the  most  licentious  and  corrupt  superstition.  He  saw 
those  immortal  beings  prostituting  the  highest  powers  of 
their  nature  to  the  lowest  and  vilest  services ;  and  dis¬ 
honoring  alike  themselves,  and  God  their  maker.  Not 
only,  therefore,  was  his  spirit  “stirred  within  him;” 
but  his  was  at  once,  a  mirigled  emotion  of  indignation 
against  those,  who,  “  professing  themselves  to  be  wise,” 
had  closed  their  minds  against  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  were  blind  leaders  of  the  blind ;  of  pity  towards 
the  miserably  deluded  multitude ;  of  zeal  for  the  cause 
of  God  and  of  human  nature ;  and  of  earnestness  for 
die  reformation,  and  the  salvation  of  men,  so  lost  in 
:io;norance  and  sin.  It  was  the  excitement  of  a  mind, 
which  was  enlightened  and  sanctified  by  Christian  con¬ 
ceptions  of  God,  and  by  Christian  sentiments  of  the 


Robinson’s  Aichaeologia  Grseca,  p.  195, 


171  MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE.  17 

worship  and  duty,  which  man  owes  to  his  Maker.  It 
was  the  action  of  a  mind,  under  the  influence  of  Christ¬ 
ian  views  of  the  condition  of  man,  while  yet  in  idolatry 
and  sin ;  and  of  the  designs  of  God  in  regard  to  the 
world,  by  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  the  movement 
of  a  mind,  which  felt  the  infinite  worth  of  the  religion 
of  Christ  ;  which  felt  an  unquenchable  zeal  for  the 
extension  of  its  blessings ;  and  which  could  not  be  satis¬ 
fied  with  itself,  while  any  thing  was  neglected,  that  could 
be  done  to  reform,  and  to  save  the  world.  We  have, 
indeed,  no  reason  to  suppose,  that  Paul  was  more  strong¬ 
ly  affected  by  the  spectacle  of  idols  and  of  idolatry  at 
Athens,  than  he  was  at  Rome,  or  at  Corinth,  or  at 
Ephesus,  or  at  Thessalonica ;  or  than  he  was  at  any 
place,  in  which  he  witnessed  the  triumph  of  a  false,  and 
a  debasing  worship,  and  the  corruption  of  heart  and  man¬ 
ners  that  are  associated  with  it.  We  have  here  but  the 
incidental  expression  of  a  feeling,  or  rather,  of  a  state  of 
mind,  with  which  he  every  where,  and  at  all  times,  looked 
upon  the  heathen  world.  He  had  been  sent  forth,  like 
the  other  apostles,  “  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea¬ 
ture  to  call  men,  “  every  where,  to  repent,  and  to  turn 
to  God ;  to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  dark¬ 
ness  to  light and  every  where  to  establish  the  worship 
and  service  of  the  one  God,  “  through  the  one  mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  man  Christ  Jesus.”  And, 
in  this  cause,  he  had  made  the  greatest  personal  sacri¬ 
fices  to  which  man  could  be  called ;  and  had  endured  all 
that  man  could  sustain.  I  need  not  enter  into  a  detail  of 
his  journeyings,  of  his  labors,  and  of  the  persecutions 

which  he  suffered,  while,  with  unimpaired  fortitude  and 

o* 


VOL.  I. 


18 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


17*2 


resolution,  he  ceased  not,  in  the  city  and  the  country,  on 
the  land  and  on  the  sea,  while  at  liberty  and  while  in 
chains,  by  conversation,  by  preaching  and  by  his  letters,  to 
do  all  that  man  could  do,  to  reclaim  his  fellow-men  from 
idolatry  and  sin,  to  the  faith  of  Christ ;  to  the  knowledge, 
and  love,  and  worship  of  God ;  and  to  holiness  here,  in 
preparation  for  immortal  happiness  hereafter.  We  all 
know  that,  in  this  work  Paul  presisted  against  all  obsta¬ 
cles,  and  under  every  accumulation  of  sulfering,  untired, 
and  undiscouraged ;  and  that,  like  his  master,  he  glori¬ 
ously  terminated  his  life  and  his  toils  together  in  the 
cause. — I  would  then  ask  any  one,  who  is  opposed  to 
the  missionary  cause,  or  who  is  indifferent  concerning  it, 
here  to  pause  and  seriously  to  consider,  whence  was  this 
sympathy  of  Paul  in  the  moral  condition  of  the  heathen 
world?  Was  it  unreasonable  ?  Was  it  excessive?  Were 
his  efforts,  or  his  sacrifices,  beyond  the  fair  demands,  or 
the  true  importance,  of  the  object  ?  Or,  did  he  in  truth 
feel  no  more  for  this  cause,  than  ought  to  be  felt  for  it 
by  every  Christian  ? 

The  true  view  of  heathenism  is,  not  that  it  is  a  condi¬ 
tion,  in  which,  if  a  man  die,  he  is  therefore  necessarily 
under  eternal  condemnation.  Terrible  thought  ;  and 
most  dishonourable  alike  to  God,  and  to  Christianity  ! 
But,  still,  that  it  is  a  condition  of  darkness,  of  sin,  and 
wretchedness,  from  which  it  is  God’s  purpose  to  redeem 
the  world.  Paul  saw  not,  nor  did  any  of  the  apostles  see, 
in  the  heathen  world,  men  who  were  doomed  to  endless 
perdition,  only  because  they  were  pagans.  But  he  saw 
in  them  the  human  nature  degraded  and  debased ;  and 
his  was  a  deep,  and  strong  feeling  of  the  greatness  of 


173 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


19 


the  change,  in  character,  in  condition,  and  in  happiness, 
which  a  cordial  reception  of  Christianity  would  bring  to 
them.  He  saw  in  them  men,  who  were  groping  their 
way,  they  knew  not  whither ;  and  who  were  sinking 
deeper  in  moral  turpitude  by  the  very  efforts,  the  very 
services,  to  which  their  false  .and  debasing  conceptions 
of  relicrion  were  leadino;  them.  He  saw  the  moral  image 
of  God  in  the  soul  to  be  marred  and  defiled ;  and  he 
saw,  and  felt  that,  by  the  religion  of  Christ  alone,  its 
beauty  and  its  purity  could  be  restored.  In  these  sen¬ 
timents,  and  these  feelings,  is  the  first  element  of  the 
missionary  spirit  ;  or,  of  a  spirit  alive  to  the  cause  of 
the  greatest  practicable  extension  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
Although,  as  a  Jew,  he  had  from  his  childhood  known 
and  worshipped  God,  yet,  as  a  Jew,  Paul  had  felt  no 
interest  in  the  cause  of  extending  a  knowledge  of  God 
to  the  heathen.  But  Christianity  had  given  to  him  new 
conceptions  of  the  character  and  designs  of  God ;  and 
new  views 'of  the  condition  of  man,  while  living  in  igno¬ 
rance  of  God,  and  in  sin.  And  if  we  see  our  fellow 
creatures  in  the  darkness,  and  debasement,  and  misery 
of  superstition,  idolatry  and  crime,  and  have  none  of 
the  sympathy  with  their  condition  which  Paul  felt,  and 
none  of  the  interest  which  our  religion  breathes  from 
every  page  of  its  records,  in  the  cause  of  their  deliver¬ 
ance,  their  redemption,  have  we  the  spirit  of  the  disci¬ 
ples  of  Christ  1  or,  are  we  Christians  ? 

Different  views  are  taken  of  heathenism,  and  of  false 
religion,  and  very  different  sentiments  are  excited  in  re¬ 
gard  to  them,  far  less  from  the  actual  diversity  of  their 


20 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


174 


character, — although,  indeed,  it  differs  greatly  in  different 
places, — than  from  the  diversity  of  the  state  of  mind  in 
which  it  is  contemplated  by  men.  An  infidel  has  told 
us,  that  the  religion  of  the  pagans  consisted  alone  in 
morality  and  festivals ;  in  morality,  w^hich  is  common  to 
men  in  all  ages  and  countries ;  and  in  festivals,  which 
were  no  other  than  seasons  of  rejoicing,  and  which  could 
^bring  with  them  no  injury  to  mankind.”*  And  with  a 
merely  speculative  Christian,  by  whom  religion  is  regard¬ 
ed  only  as  a  matter  of  opinion, — a  subject  for  occasional 
discussion,  the  pagan  idolatry  was,  and  is,  a  mere  specu¬ 
lative  absurdity.  With  those  wh6  view  religion  only  as 
a  political  engine,  paganism,  and  all  religion,  is  good  or 
bad,  as  it  is  favourable  or  unfavourable,  to  their  views 
of  civil  policy.  And  by  those  who  care  little  or  nothing 
for  the  religion  in  which  they  have  been  educated,  in 
any  of  its  forms,  or  of  its  characteristic  sentiments,  no 
interest  whatever  will  of  course  be  felt,  in  the  religious 
or  moral  condition  of  the  world.  But  neither  did  our 
Lord  nor  his  apostles,  look  upon  heathenism  with  indif¬ 
ference;  nor  alone,  nor  peculiarly  in  its  political  bear¬ 
ings  ;  nor  as  a  mere  error  of  judgment ;  nor  as  an  inno¬ 
cent,  or  a  moral  institution.  No.  Had  our  Lord  and  his 
apostles  reasoned  of  the  world,  as  too  many  now  reason  of 
those  who  are  without  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  the 
blessings  of  his  gospel ;  had  they  said,  “  the  time  has 
not  come  to  bring  Jews  and  heathens  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth.  They  are  not  qualified  to  receive  it.  God 
will  execute  his  own  work,  in  his  own  time.  They  are 
safe.  They  will  be  judged  in  equity,  and  in  mercy. 


*  Voltaire’s  Louis  XIV. 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISB. 


21 


Why  then  interfere,  wliere  our  interference  is  not  re¬ 
quested  — Had  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  thus  reason¬ 
ed  of  the  world,  what  would  now  have  been  our  condi¬ 
tion?  How  much  better  than  that  of  the  ancient  idolaters 
of  Athens,  or  of  Rome  ;  or  the  modern  idolaters  of  Hin- 
doostan  or  of  China  ?  Let  impartial  justice  preside  over 
the  inquiry,  and  I  have  no  fear  concerning  the  decision 
upon  it  in  every  mind. 

May  I  not  then  say  to  you,  reader,  whoever  you  may 
be,  cultivate  a  Christian  sense  of  the  religious  and  moral 
condition  of  those,  wlio  are  living  under  the  influences 
of  heathenism,  and  of  false  religion,  and,  like  Paul’s,  your 
spirit  will  be  “  stirred  in  you,”  when  you  look  upon  the 
nations  that  are  “  wholly  given  up  to  idolatry  ?”  Yes,  carry 
with  you  into  those  dark  regions  of  the  earth,  the  light 
and  spirit  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  your  heart  yuII 
“  burn  within  you,”  with  compassion  for  their  miserable 
condition,  and  with  Christian  zeal  in  the  cause  of  their 
deliverance  from  it.  What,  indeed,  is  there,  that  is  low, 
what  that  is  vicious,  or  what  that  is  wretched,  which  was 
not  comprehended  in  ancient,  and  which  is  not  compre¬ 
hended  in  modern,  heathenism  ?  There  is  nothing  to  be 
conceived  either  of  lewdness,  or  of  cruelty,  which  had 
not  the  sanctions  of  the  religion  of  Greece  and  Rome  ,• 
and  which  is  not  now  a  part  of  the  idolatrous  worship  of 
the  world.  Nor,  in  any  section  of  the  world,  was  moral 
instruction  ever  connected  with  any  department,  or  office, 
of  heathen  worship.  Nay,  more.  This  worship,  with 
the  vices  that  were  not  only  incidental  to  it,  but  which 
found,  in  some  of  its  exercises,  their  very  spirit  and  life, 
was  not  left,  even  in  the  most  cultivated  ages  of  antiquity, 


22 


ON  THE  PRINCirLES  OF  THE 


176 


alone  to  exert  its  full  influence  upon  the  multitude.  Even 
legislators  and  philosoplKus,  instead  of  endeavouring  to 
instruct,  and  to  reclaim  their  ignorant  and  corrupted  coun¬ 
trymen,  encouraged  this  degrading  service  by  their  teach¬ 
ing,  required  it  by  their  laws,  and  sanctioned  it  by  their 
examples.  I  ask,  only,  then,  that  the  world  which  is 
without  our  religion,  should  be  seen  by  us  in  the  light,  and 
considered  with  the  sentiments,  with  which  it  was  seen 
and  considered  by  our  Lord  and  his  Apostles ;  and  we 
shall  be  secure  of  the  first  element,  or  principle,  of  that 
spirit,  which  will  earnestly  desire,  and  gladly  seize  the 
occasion,  as  widely  as  possible  to  diffuse  the  knowledge, 
and  influence,  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

The  second  element,  or  principle,  of  that  spirit,  which 
feels  its  obligation  to  do  all  that  it  may  for  the  diffusion 
of  our  religion,  is,  a  deep  and  strong  sense  of  the  reality ^ 
and  power,  and  worth  of  our  religion;  and  of  the  inesti- 
mahle  blessings  which  it  toill  not  fail  to  impart  to  those, 
2vho  shall  cordially  receive,  and  faithfully  obey  it. 

I  have  dwelt,  perhaps,  longer  than  it  may  be  thought 
by  many  to  have  been  necessary  that  I  should  have 
dwelt,  on  the  sentiments  with  which  our  religion  regards 
the  heathen  world.  But  I  know  that  there  are  not  a  few, 
even  of  those  who  have  made  some  progress  in  religious 
knowledge,  whose  opinions  on  this  subject  are  unformed 
and  unsettled;  and  that  there  are  not  a  few  also,  who 
reason,  as  I  think,  most  unjustly  concerning  it.  I  was 
willing,  also,  to  detain  attention  for  a  few  minutes  longer 
than  I  would  otherwise  have  done,  upon  the  first  ele¬ 
ment,  or  principle,  of  the  missionary  enterprise,  from  a 
conviction  that,  if  this  principle  be  distinctly  understood, 


177  MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE.  2;] 

and  strongly  felt,  a  preparation  will  be  secured  for  the 
succeeding  topics  of  this  letter.  These  topics  I  will  now 
treat  as  briefly  as  I  can. 

Is  our  religion,  then,  a  reality  ?  Are  its  doctrines  re¬ 
specting  the  character  and  government  of  God,  respect¬ 
ing  the  condition  of  man  in  this  world,  respecting  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  eternal  life  that  is  beyond  the 
grave,  actually  a  revelation  from  God  to  us  ?  I  appeal,  then, 
to  the  consciousness  which  the  Christian  has  of  the  power, 
and  the  worth  of  his  religion.  I  appeal  to  his  experi¬ 
ence  of  its  purifying,  its  heavenly  influence  upon  the 
heart  that  receives,  and  loves  it,  and  yields  to  it.  I  ap¬ 
peal  to  his  experience  of  its  adaptation  to  the  strongest 
wants  of  his  nature  ;  to  the  w'ants  of  his  immortal  nature  ; 
to  his  experience  of  its  power  of  exalting  the  soul  above 
all  that  would  degrade  and  debase  it ;  of  bringing  man  to 
the  greatest  nearness  to  God,  to  which  he  can  be  brought 
in  this  world ;  and  of  giving,  even  here,  a  foretaste  of  the 
blessedness,  which  it  assures  to  its  obedient  believers 
hereafter. 

Who  that  thus  knows  the  power  and  the  worth  of  the 
religion  of  Christ,  will  not  most  earnestly,  m.ost  solicit¬ 
ously  desire  its  widest,  its  universal  extension?  We 
may  possess  knowledge,  and  riches,  and  other  sources  of 
great  immediate  gratification,  and  be  strongly  sensible  of 
their  worth,  and  yet  not  only  not  desire  their  diffusion, 
but  even  feel  our  own  interest  and  happiness  essentially 
to  depend  upon  the  very  fact  of  our  exclusive  possession 
of  them.  But  so  it  cannot  be  in  regard  to  the  principles 
and  the  spirit  of  the  religion  of  Christ.  In  each  one  of 
its  principles,  and  in  every  object  of  it,  Christianity  is 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OP  THE 


17S 


‘;>4 


stamped  with  a  character  of  iiniversality,  which  belongs 
to  no  other  religion ;  and,  corresponding  with  this  pecu¬ 
liarity  of  it,  is  the  spirit  which  it  aw’akens  in  its  sincere 
believers.  Christian  benevolence,  the  love  which  Christ¬ 
ianity  inspires,  is  a  principle  that  cannot  lie  inactive  in 
the  soul  that  receives  it.  It  will  even  expand  itself  be¬ 
yond  the  sphere  of  its  capacity  of  action.  It  will  wish, 
and  it  will  pray  for,  the  amelioration  of  the  suffering,  to 
which  it  can  extend  only  the  emotions,  and  the  breath¬ 
ings,  of  its  compassionate  desires.  It  will  wish,  and  it 
will  pray  for,  the  universal  diffusion  of  truth,  and  purity, 
and  happiness.  Nor  will  it  evaporate  in  a  wish  ;  or  think 
that  its  end  is  attained,  only  by  a  prayer  for  the  good  of 
all  men.  It  will  not  indeed  waste  itself  on  the  expanse 
of  ignorance,  and  weakness,  and  suffering,  and  sin ;  or 
spend  its  strength  where  it  can  impart  no  light,  or  com¬ 
fort,  or  improvement.  But,  while  it  diffuses  itself,  like 
that  subtile,  elastic,  all  pervading  fluid  which  surrounds 
and  fills  our  earth,  and  is  the  life  of  every  living  thing, 
it  will  ever  delight  to  concentrate  its  pozver ;  and  here, 
and  there,  and  every  where,  as  it  may,  to  accomplish  the 
greatest  good  of  which  it  is  capable.  Christian  benevo¬ 
lence  will  never  hesitate  upon  the  question,  whether  it 
shall  act,  wherever  it  may  act,  for  the  good  of  others.  It 
can  no  more  live  without  this  action,  than  the  selfish 
principle  can  live  without  action  for  its  own  indulgence. 
Do  I,  then,  address  those  who  have  a  Christian  sense  of 
the  reality,  and  power,  and  worth  of  our  religion  ?  With 
them,  the  knowledge  of  an  opportunity,  and  the  possess¬ 
ion  of  the  means,  of  more  widely  extending  it,  will  at 
once  secure  all  that  Christian  earnestness,  and  that  Christ¬ 
ian  benevolence,  can  accomplish  in  this  enterprise. 


179 


3nSSI0NARY  ENTERPRISE. 


25 


In  thinking  of  the  early  extension  of  our  religion, — 
the  unexampled  rapidity  of  its  extension  during  the  life 
of  the  apostles ;  and  in  pursuing  the  inquiries,  “  why  has 
it  not  since  been  more  widely  diffused  ?  Why  has  it  not 
long  ago  penetrated  into  every  region,  where  civil  gov¬ 
ernment  is  established,  and  the  arts  of  civilized  life  are 
cultivated,  and  where  men  are  qualified  to  weigh  the 
evidences  of  its  truth  ?  and,  why  has  it  not  overshadow¬ 
ed,  and  withered  the  superstitions,  and  exterminated  the 
false  religion,  and  the  idolatries,  of  Turkey,  of  Persia,  of 
Hindoostan,  and  of  the  vast  empire  of  China?  Why  has 
it  not  yet  spread  through  Africa,  and  through  South 
America ;  why  has  it  not  accomplished  in  the  islands  of 
the  Indian  ocean,  and  in  all  those  of  the  Pacific,  the  good 
which  it  is  said  recently  to  have  accomplished  in  the  So¬ 
ciety  isles?”* — In  thus  comparing  what  our  religion  has 

*  In  the  year  1773,  Capt.  Cook  estimated  the  number  of  inhab¬ 
itants  in  the  Society  Islands  at  200,000.  The  missionaries  think  that 
there  must  have  been,  at  that  time,  at  least  150,000.  But  in  1797, 
when  the  missionaries  arrived  there,  the  number  did  not  exceed 
20,000  ;  and  before  Christianity  began  to  exert  much  influence 
there,  the  number  had  diminished  to  little  more  than  15,000.  It 
is  believed  that  two  thirds  of  the  children  that  were  born,  were 
sacrificed  to  idols  ;  or  were  thrown  into  the  sea  to  propitiate  the 
sharks,  which  were  worshipped  as  gods  ;  or  were  buried  alive. 
In  the  years  1801  and  1802,  Mr.  John  Turnbull  resided  at  Otaheite 
for  commercial  purposes  ;  and  has  since  published  “  A  voyage  round 
the  World,  in  the  years  1800,  1,  2,  3,  and  4.”  Of  the  inhabitants 
of  these  islands,  he  says,  “  their  pollution  beggars  all  description ; 
and  my  mind  revolts  from  a  recollection,  which  recalls  so  many 
objects  of  disgust  and  horror.  Their  wickedness  is  enough  to  call 
down  the  immediate  judgment  of  heaven  ;  and  unless  their  mannera 
change,  I  pronounce  that  they  will  not  long  remain  in  the  number 

3 


VOL.  I. 


26 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


180 


done,  with  what  we  are  very  plainly  taught  that  it  was 
intended  to  do,  we  too  easily  rest  in  causes  of  its  past, 
and  present  condition,  which  leave  the  blame  of  the  nar¬ 
rowness  of  the  present  bounds  of  Christendom  any  where, 
but  where  indeed  it  belongs ;  that  is,  with  those  who 
have  called  themselves  Christians.  It  is  said  too,  in  our 
own  justification,  that  the  age  of  miracles  has  passed ; 
and  that  converts  are  not  therefore  now  to  be  made,  as 
they  were  made  in  the  days  of  the  apostles.  And  then 
we  resort  to  the  consideration,  that  there  is  work  enough 
to  be  done  at  home,  without  going  abroad  to  proselyte. 
And,  if  still  pressed  upon  the  subject,  we  ask,  “  where, 

of  nations.”  JSTow,  however,  not  less  than  12,000,  in  these  islands, 
can  read  the  word  of  God  intelligibly  ;  considerable  portion  of  which 
have  been  translated  into  their  language,  printed  and  circulated. 
Three  thousand  children  and  adults  are  now  in  the  school.  Many 
are  able  to  write,  and  some  are  considerably  acquainted  with  arithmetic. 
The  pleasures  of  the  domestic  circle  are  now  known  among  them. 
Industry  has  increased.  Drunkenness  has  become  rare.  Theft  sel¬ 
dom  occurs ;  and  murder  is  still  more  unfrequent.  The  aged  and 
infirm  are  kindly  treated.  Hospitals  have  been  established  ;  and 
charitable  societies  instituted,  to  relieve  the  afflicted  poor.  Their 
government  is  defined,  and  limited  by  a  constitution ;  and  the  king 
and  his  chiefs  have  power  only  to  execute  the  laws.  Their  wars  are 
ended,  and  the  weapons  of  war  are  perishing.  Family  prayer  is 
almost  universal.  Twenty-eight  houses  of  worship  are  opened  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  eighteen  natives  arc  employed  as  missionaries  in 
the  neighbouring  islands.  These  are  facts  which  require  no  com¬ 
ment.  It  would  be  easy  to  adduce  many  others,  in  regard  to  these 
islanders,  which  are  not  less  interesting.  But  I  would  rather  refer  the 
reader,  who  would  know  more  of  this  subject,  to  the  London  Quar¬ 
terly  Chronicle  for  July  and  October,  1823 ;  and  to  the  INIissionary 
Herald  for  September,  1825. 


181 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


27 


and  what,  are  the  indications  of  providence,  that  our 
labours  in  the  work  of  extending  our  religion  among  the 
heathen  will  be  successful  f  ’  But  I  would  ask  any  one  who 
so  reasons  concerning  the  missionary  cause,  to  bring  home 
to  himself  the  inquiry,  as  far  as  respects  the  intellectual 
and  moral  condition  of  the  world,  “  what  better  indications 
had  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  of  success  in  the  work  of 
diffusing  his  religion,  than  we  now  have  ?”  I  may  ask, 
too,  even  at  the  hazard  of  startling  those  who  have  not 
so  viewed  it,  if  our  religion  be  not,  essentially,  a  religion 
of  proselytism  ?  Are  not  its  designs  respecting  all  man¬ 
kind  forcing  themselves  upon  our  notice,  on  every  page 
of  its  records  ?  Does  it  offer  any  compromise  with  false 
religion,  or  with  idolatry,  in  any  of  their  forms  ?  Nay, 
more,  I  would  ask,  if  Christianity  is  to  be  extended  over 
the  whole  world,  and  if  the  age  of  miracles  be  gone  by, 
not  to  return,  where  is  the  consistency  of  waiting  for  a 
miraculous  direction  in  this  work,  and  for  miraculous  as¬ 
sistance  in  its  execution  ?  Shall  ?re  then  wait  for  miracu¬ 
lous  manifestations,  to  excite  us  to  do  what  we  may  for 
its  universal  extension  ?  The  only  miracle,  indeed,  which 
is  necessary  for  our  success,  in  the  enterprise  is,  that  they 
who  call  themselves  Christians,  should  strongly  feel  the 
power  and  worth  of  the  religion  of  Christ ;  and,  that 
their  hearts  should  be  drawn  out  in  the  exercise  of  that 
benevolence,  without  which,  I  know  not  on  what  ground 
we  can  claim  to  be  his  disciples.  I  will  even  proceed  a 
step  further,  and  ask,  if  we  have  not  some  advantage  for 
the  propagation  of  our  religion,  which  the  apostles  had 
not?  With  them,  Christianity  was  an  experiment  that 
was  yet  to  be  tried.  But  we  have  the  evidence  of  its 


28 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  GF  THE 


182 


truth  and  excellence,  which  is  derived  from  the  admira¬ 
ble  institutions  that  have  grown  out  of  it ;  and  which  as 
much  belong  to  it,  and  depend  upon  it,  as  the  branches 
of  a  vine  belong  to,  and  depend  upon,  the  stock  to  which 
they  are  attached.  We  can  shew,  and  prove,  that  in  the 
degree  to  which  it  has  been  left  to  itself,  unfettered  by 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  restrictions,  it  has  triumphed  over 
the  strongest  passions,  and  the  most  inveterate  prejudices 
and  customs ;  and  has  repressed  abuses  and  crimes,  which 
have  been  established  and  sanctioned  by  every  other  reli¬ 
gion.  By  the  knowledge,  also,  which  it  has  imparted  of 
mutual  rights  and  duties,  it  has  modified,  and,  we  hesitate 
not  to  say,  has  improved  civil  government,  and  public  mor¬ 
als,  to  an  extent  to  which  no  other  than  Christian  principles 
could  have  advanced  them.  Who  that  has  thoroughly 
studied  the  history  of  our  own  country,  has  a  doubt 
whether  we  owe  our  peculiar  civil  institutions  to  Christ¬ 
ianity  Nor  may  we  alone  defend  our  religion,  and 
recommend  it,  by  these  most  obvious  and  grand  results 
of  it.  The  countless  associations  which  it  has  origina¬ 
ted,  for  all  the  conceivable  purposes  of  benevolence ;  the 
systems  of  education,  that  are  essentially  Christian,  v/hich 
are  forming  and  advancing  throughout  Christendom  ;  the 
new  responsibleness  which  it  devolves  upon  woman,  and 
the  new  rank  which  it  has  given  to  her ;  the  emancipa¬ 
tion  which  it  has  effected  of  the  poor,  from  the  entailed 
ignorance,  degradation  and  debasement,  in  which  every 
other  religion  finds,  and  leaves  them ;  its  efforts,  and  its 

I  would  refer  the  reader,  who  has  not  much  time  for  inquiry  on 
this  subject,  to  the  very  able  sermon,  preached  before  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  of  the  Commonwealth,  on  the  31st  of  May,  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Dewey,  of  New  JBedford. 


,188 


flIISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


20 


success,  in  the  work  of  abolishing  slavery ;  and  its  influ¬ 
ence  on  the  domestic  relations,  and  on  domestic  hap¬ 
piness; — these  are  effects  of  our  religion,  which,  in  pro¬ 
portion  as  they  are  comprehended,  and  are  seen  in 
their  true  character  by  the  intelligent  of  other  religions, 
will  do  much,  and  cannot  fail  to  do  much,  for  its  exten¬ 
sion.*  From  what  it  has  done,  bad  as  Christendom  is, 
wo  can  demonstrate  its  adaptation  to  the  condition,  and  to 
the  wants  of  all  men,  and  its  tendency  to  an  indefinite 
improvement  of  the  human  mind  and  character. 

*  ''  Before  going  to  war,  it  is  right  to  count  the  cost ;  and  in  the 
conflict  which  Christians  have  begun  to  wage  for  the  moral  subjuga¬ 
tion  of  the  world,  it  is  proper  to  estimate  whether,  with  their  few  and 
scattered  numbers,  they  can  cope  with  the  myriads  of  their  oppo¬ 
nents.  Certainly  at  no  former  period  had  they  such  means,  and  such 
promising  success,  as  we  now  have.  All  the  ancient  ‘  war  weapons’ 
of  victory,  excepting  miracles,  are  at  their  disposal ;  and  new  instru¬ 
ments  of  still  greater  potency,  which  the  science  of  the  latter  days 
has  been  accumulating  for  a  universal  revolution  of  the  mind,  are 
ready  to  be  brought  into  action,  upon  a  scale  of  overpowering  mag¬ 
nitude.  Even  the  single  resource  which  is  lost,  may  yet  be  recom¬ 
pensed  by  equivalents  ;  and  a  substitute,  in  many  respects,  may  be 
found  for  miracles.  The  first  effect  of  a  miracle  is,  to  arouse  the 
attention,  and  to  overawe  opposing  prejudices.  The  second,  to  af¬ 
ford  a  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  religion,  of  which  it  is  a  sealing  accom¬ 
paniment.  The  first  object  may  be  gained  by  experimental  philoso¬ 
phy.  And  as  to  the  second,  the  difference  in  the  proof  of  our  reli¬ 
gion,  to  any  to  whom  it  shall  now  be  proposed,  from  its  miracles,  lies 
rather  in  the  fact,  that  this  proof  is  at  the  present  day  more  circuitous 
''  than  that  it  is  less  conclusive,  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  apostles. 
Besides,  the  turning  point  of  receiving  christiai^ity,  even  in  the  apos¬ 
tolic  age,  consisted  less  in  having  seen  the  miracles,  than  in  seeing 
their  own  need  of  a  revelation,  and  its  adaptation  to  the  present  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  humanity.  Moral  influence  has  always  prevailed  more 

3# 


VOL.  I. 


30 


ON  THE  principles  OF  THE 


184 


The  third,  and  last  element,  or  principle,  of  that  spirit, 
which  feels  a  paramount  obligation  to  do  all  that  it  may 
for  the  diffusion  of  our  religion,  is  the  feeling,  that  God, 
in  dispensing  signal  blessings  to  men,  designs  that  they 
whom  he  so  distinguishes,  shall  be  his  agents  in  giving 
the  widest  possible  extension  to  these  blessings.  In  other 
words,  God  designs  that  man  shall  he  his  instrument ^  for 
imparting  the  blessings  of  ehi'istianity  to  man;  and  he 
who  has  the  means,  and  the  opportunities,  thus  to  benefit 
his  fellow  creatures,  will  be  held  responsible  at  the  bar 

than  supernatural  influence.  The  generation  that  literally  lived  on 
miracles,  and  had  ‘  angels’  food’  for  their  daily  bread,  perished  from 
unbelief  in  the  desert ;  whilst  their  children,  brought  up  in  the  loneli¬ 
ness  of  the  wildernesss,  far  from  the  corruptions  of  the  surrounding 
nations,  were  even  eminent  to  aftertimes,  as  an  example  of  ‘  a  right 
godly  nation.’  ” 

Hints  on  Missions,  by  James  Douglas,  Esq.  pp.  22 — 24.  This  is  a 
sensible  little  book  ;  and  far  better  worth  reading,  than  have  been 
many  books  upon  the  subject  of  missions,  which  have  been,  and  are, 
more  popular. 

A  friend  suggests  to  me  the  expediency  of  remarking  here,  that 
the  effect  of  miracles,  as  a  means  of  missionary  success,  has  been  over- 
rrated ;  for  the  apostles  seem  to  have  resorted  to  them  only  inci¬ 
dentally  ;  and  Rammohun  Roy  says,  they  are  not  of  the  value  in  the 
East,  which  many  Christians  are  accustomed  to  ascribe  to  them.  It 
is  indeed  wellknowm,  that  the  Hindoos  boast  of  far  more  wonderful 
miracles,  than  are  related  by  the  Evangelists;  and  though  these  repu¬ 
ted  miracles  are  as  wonderful  absurdities,  as  were  ever  imposed  upon 
human  credulity,  they  must,'^nd  will  dispose  unconverted  natives  of 
India,  to  allow  but  little  importance  to  the  miracles  of  our  religion. 
But  converts  to  Christianity,  in  that  country,  will  obtain  new  senti¬ 
ments  of  the  miracles  of  Hindooism  ;  and  then  also  will  they  see,  in 
the  miracles  of  the  gospel  much  to  confirm  their  faith,  that  it  is,  what 
it  claims  to  be,  a  dispensation  fiom  God, 


185 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


31 


of  heaven,  for  the  execution  of  the  work  which  God  thus 
requires  of  liim. 

That  man  should  sympathize  with  man,  that  he  should 
feel  an  interest,  deep  and  strong,  in  the  condition  of  his 
fellow-men ;  and,  especially,  that  we  should  be  affected, 
and  strongly  affected,  by  the  wants  and  sufferings,  not 
alone  of  those  around  us,  but  of  our  whole  race,  I  fear 
not  to  say  is  as  much  a  law  of  our  nature,  as  it  is  that  we 
should  feel  a  deep  and  strong  interest  in  those,  who  are 
immediately  connected  with  us,  in  the  nearest  relations 
of  life ;  or,  as  it  is,  that  we  should  love  ourselves.  This 
feeling  may  be,  and  it  is,  kept  down  within  us,  by  the  as¬ 
cendant  influence,  which  is  obtained  in  our  hearts  by 
narrow,  local,  and  selfish  interests.  It  is  a  feeling,  which 
many  of  the  circumstances  in  our  early  education  are 
suited  to  repress,  and  to  enfeeble  in  us ;  and  v/hich  our 
daily  habits  of  business  and  of  pleasure,  as  mere  men  of 
the  world,  may  be  counteracting,  and  restraining,  and 
deadening  within  us.  But  there  are  occasions  in  the  life 
of  every  one,  whose  heart  lias  not  been  shut  up  by  bands 
of  brass,  or  iron,  or  adamant,  when  this  feeling,  chilled 
and  dead  as  it  may  have  seemed  to  be,  is  warmed  into  life, 
and  puts  forth  its  strength,  and  breaks  from  its  enclo- 
ures,  and  speaks  in  a  language  not  to  be  misunderstood ; 
at  once  vindicating  our  nature  from  the  charge,  that, 

“  There  is  no  flesh  in  man’s  obdurate  heart, 

“  It  does  not  feel  for  man 

and  demonstrating  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  God,  that 
man  shall  be  his  instrument  for  the  communication  of  all 
possible  blessings  to  man.  I  need  not  refer  you  to  the 
effects,  which  are  produced  wdthin  us,  while  we  are  read- 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


1S6 


ing  narratives  of  real,  or  of  imaginary  scenes  and  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  distress.  Tliese  effects  alone  demonstrate, 
not  only  that  God  has  made  us  for  one  another,  but  that, 
in  an  important  sense,  he  has  made  each  one  of  us  foi 
the  whole  of  our  species.  Who,  I  ask,  dwells  upon  the 
pages  of  history,  merely  that  he  may  possess  its  facts ; 
or  simply  for  the  mere  personal  uses  which  he  may  make 
of  them  ?  Or  who  that  knows  the  blessings  of  civil 
rights,  and  of  civil  liberty,  has  not  felt  all  his  indignation 
awakened  against  the  despot,  that  has  trampled  upon 
these  rights,  even  though  ages  have  revolved,  since  the 
tyrant  and  the  tyranny  have  passed  away  ?  And  who  has 
not  felt  a  joy,  an  exultation,  to  be  surpassed  only  by  that 
of  an  emancipated  people,  when  the  tyrant  has  fallen,  and 
when  at  least  one  well  directed  effort  has  been  made  in 
the  cause  of  human  freedom  1  Who,  as  he  has  pondered 
on  the  pages  of  history,  has  not  gone  forth  with  the 
armies,  over  whose  dust  centuries  have  revolved,  and 
joined  the  standard  of  the  leader  whom  he  has  chosen, 
and  fought  for  the  rights  of  man ;  rejoicing,  or  suffer¬ 
ing,  as  they  were  obtained,  or  lost;  filled  with  the  interests, 
the  hopes,  the  fears  of  the  distant  age,  to  which  his  exist¬ 
ence  for  the  hour  has  been  transferred  ;  and  prepared 
for  all  the  efforts  and  sacrifices  of  the  cause  which  he 
lias  espoused,  and  which  he  believes  to  be  the  cause  of 
truth,  and  right,  and  human  happiness  ?  Who  has  read 
of  the  wise,  intrepid,  persevering,  disinterested  benefac¬ 
tors  of  their  age, — be  that  age  as  distant  from  us  as  it 
may, — and  has  not  felt  that  they  were  the  glory  of  our 
race  ?  Who  has  not  sympathized  with  them  in  their  pur¬ 
poses,  shared  their  toils,  triumphed  in  their  successes, 


187 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


33 


and  lamented  their  defeats  ?  Who  has  not  felt,  when 
under  the  influence  of  their  examples,  the  true  greatness 
and  dignity  of  an  heroic,  self-denying,  upright,  and  be¬ 
nevolent  spirit  ;  struggling  against  the  difficulties  that 
opposed  it ;  sacrificing  its  ease,  its  security,  its  peace,  and 
all  its  immediate  interests,  for  the  advancement  of  the 
condition  and  happiness  of  others ;  and  who  has  not  felt 
himself  to  be  raised  in  the  scale  of  being,  by  the  conscious¬ 
ness  that  he  is  united,  by  the  bond  of  a  common  nature, 
with  all  this  virtue,  this  greatness,  this  excellence?  Yes, 
it  is  not  less  a  law  of  our  nature,  that  we  should  go  out  of 
ourselves,  that  we  should  feel  a  strong  interest  in  others, 
and  not  only  in  the  wants  and  the  happiness  of  our  fami¬ 
ly,  our  neighbourhood,  our  country  and  our  age,  but  in 
those  too  of  men  in  every  country,  and  in  all  time,  than 
it  is  that  we  should  love  ourselves.  I  say  not,  that  one 
principle  is  as  strong,  and  steady,  and  active  at  all  times, 
or  that  it  is  as  generally  manifested  in  human  conduct,  as 
is  the  other.  It  is  not.  In  many  it  is  bound  in  the 
chains  of  a  sordid  avarice.  In  many,  it  is  kept  in  sub¬ 
jection  by  a  miserable  ambition,  which  values  nothing, 
but  as  it  conduces  to  personal  distinction.  And  in  many, 
it  lies  buried  under  heaps  of  the  rubbish  of  cares  and 
interests,  of  appetites  and  propensities,  of  prejudices  and 
passions,  not  one  of  which  has  an  object  beyond  the  in¬ 
dividual,  to  whom  they  are  the  chief,  and  perhaps  the 
only  good  of  life.  But  the  principle  of  sympathy, — of 
sympathy,  I  mean,  with  the  cause  of  human  nature,  of 
human  good  and  happiness, — dead  and  buried  as  it  some¬ 
times  seems  to  be,  does  also  sometimes  rise,  and  manifest 
itself ;  and,  with  an  electric  influence,  at  once  animate, 


34 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


'  188 


and  give  new  vigor,  to  thousands,  and  millions.  How 
has  the  thrill  of  its  power  been  felt,  in  the  cause  of  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade  ?  How  was  it  felt,  when  the 
first  struggles  of  the  Greeks  for  freedom  were  published 
throuo;hout  Christendom  ?  How  was  it  felt  when  it  was 
thought  that  the  sun  of  liberty  had  broken  through  the 
clouds,  which,  for  centuries,  had  covered  Spain ;  and 
that  a  new  day  was  about  to  open  upon  that  dark  spot  of 
the  earth  ?  And  how  was  it  felt,  when  we  ivere  assured 
that  one  and  another  of  the  oppressed  nations  of  South 
America  had  conquered,  had  triumphed,  had  secured  a 
government  of  its  choice,  a  constitution,  equal  laws, 
independence  1  And  who,  that  has  tasted  the  blessings, 
and  that  knows  the  happiness  of  civil  liberty,  does  not 
desire,  and  will  not  pray,  that  it  may  be  universal  ?  Who 
would  not  rejoice  to  hear,  that  despotism  is  every 
where  at  an  end  ?  Who  ivould  not  contribute  what  he 
can,  to  the  cause  of  the  universal  emancipation  of  our 
race,  from  the  injustice  and  cruelty,  the  degradation  and 
misery,  of  civil  tyranny? — And  is  civil  freedom,  or  are 
civil  rights  and  privileges,  so  great  a  boon,  that,  merely  to 
name  them,  is  to  kindle  desire  in  every  heart,  that  they 
may  be  universal  ?  And  is  the  sympathy  that  is  thus  ex¬ 
cited,  one  of  the  provisions  of  God,  for  the  advancement 
of  the  great  cause  of  civil  liberty  throughout  the  world  ? 
What,  then,  should  be  our  sympathy  in  the  cause  of  reli¬ 
gion  ;  of  religious  liberty  ;  of  the  rescue  of  man  from  tlie 
slavery  of  a  superstition,  a  thousand  times  more  debasing 
than  is  any  civil  bondage ;  in  the  cause  of  bringing  men 
to  the  liberty,  the  exaltation  of  condition,  and  the  hap¬ 
piness,  of  the  sons  of  God  ? 


189  MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE.  35 

I 

Christians,  let  us  feel  the  value  of  our  privileges,  and 
the  greatness  of  our  responsibility  for  them.  God  has 
committed  them  to  us  for  our  own  improvement,  and  as 
means  of  our  own  salvation.  But  is  it  not  also  his  will, 
that  we  should  be  his  instruments  for  the  improvement, 
and  the  salvation,  of  our  fellow-men  ?  How,  think  you, 
is  our  religion  to  be  extended  through  the  world,  but  by 
the  Christian  earnestness,  and  the  Christian  benevolence 
of  those,  who  feel  its  reality,  its  worth  and  its  power ; 
and  the  greatness  of  the  blessings  which  it  will  impart 
to  those  who  receive  it?  We  believe,  indeed,  that  it  ev'^er 
has  been,  that  it  is,  and  that  it  will  be,  in  the  care  of 
him,  who  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
But  our  Lord  committed  it  to  the  immediate  charge  of 
his  apostles  ;  and  they  have  left  it — to  those  who  shall  be¬ 
lieve  in  it.  God  will  honor  us  as  his  agents,  in  the  work 
of  imparting  to  all  the  greatest  of  all  his  blessings.  Is 
proof  of  the  principle  demanded  ?  I  will  ask,  why  has  God, 
in  such  diversified  measures,  allotted  to  us  our  talents, 
and  our  capacities?  Why  has  he  appointed  such  a  diver¬ 
sity  in  the  condition  of  men  ?  Why  has  he  connected  us  in 
bonds  of  families,  of  neighborhoods,  and  of  communi¬ 
ties  ?  And  why  has  he  subjected  all  to  so  many  weak¬ 
nesses,  and  exposures,  and  wants,  and  sufferings?  No 
one  will  doubt,  whether  one  purpose  of  these  ordina¬ 
tions  of  his  providence  is,  the  accomplishment,  by  the 
instrumentality  of  man,  of  his  designs  of  benevolence  " 
towards  man.  And  is  it  less  clearly  God’s  design,  that 
we  should  extend,  as  far  as  we  may,  the  bread  of  life, 
and  the  waters  of  live,  to  those  who  are  suffering  from 
the  want  of  them,  than  it  is  that  we  should  give  of  our 
bread  to  the  hungry,  or  relieve  the  distress  which  we 


36 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


190 


have  the  means  and  opportunity  of  relieving?  Fellow- 
christians,  let  us  feel  that  we  are  to  give  account  to  God, 
for  the  use  which  we  make  of  our  powers  of  mind  and 
of  body,  of  our  property,  of  our  influence,  and  of  every 
means  which  we  have  of  being  good,  hy  doing  good.  And 
if,  where  much  has  been  given,  much  will  be  required, 
will  not  much  be  demanded  from  us,  and  may  not  much 
be  most  justly  demanded,  in  return  for  the  most  precious 
of  God’s  gifts  to  us,  the  religion  of  his  Son  ?  Admit  that 
the  heathens  are  safe,  as  far  as  that  idolatry  is  concerned, 
the  evil  of  which  they  know  not.  The  great  question  to 
engage  our  attention  is,  are  ivc  safe,  while  we  possess  the 
means  of  their  instruction,  their  reformation,  and  their 
best  happiness,  and  yet  fail  to  employ  them  to  the  pur¬ 
poses,  for  which  God  has  entrusted  us  with  them  ?  Are 
we  safe,  if  this  talent  shall  be  kept  by  us,  laid  up  in  a 
napkin  ?  Can  w^e  render  our  account  with  joy  at  the  bar 
of  heaven,  if,  having  freely  received  this  unspeakable  gift, 
we  have  cared  nothing  for  the  condition  of  those  who 
have  it  not;  and  have  done  nothing,  that  they  may  be 
partakers  with  us  of  the  salvation,  which  is  in  Christ  Je¬ 
sus,  with  everlasting  glory  ? 

Suffer  me  here  to  say,  that  I  fear  we  do  not  think 
enough  of  the  importance  of  prayer  in  this,  as  w'ell  as  in 
all  our  great  and  important  enterprises,  God  wills  that 
religious  truth,  like  other  truth,  should  be  extended  by 
human  agency.  But  not  by  an  independent  agency  of 
man.  We  are,  in  this  great  concern,  to  “  be  w^orkers  to¬ 
gether  with  God and  while  our  wills,  and  affections, 
and  labors,  are  to  be  given  to  the  service,  we  are  in  all 
our  ways  to  acknowledge  Him,  that  he  may  direct  our 
steps.”  Before  our  Lord  elected  his  apostles,  he  was  all 


191 


MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE. 


3: 

night  in  prayer  to  God ;  and  we  see  his  apostles  relying 
not  more  on  their  miraculous  powers,  than  on  their 
prayers,  for  the  cooperation  of  God  in  their  work.  Let 
us  not,  then,  indulge  narrow  views  of  our  relation  to  God ; 
of  the  intimacy  of  the  communion  which  we  may  hold 
with  him ;  and  of  the  influence  which  may  be  exerted  by 
God  upon  us,  and  by  God,  in  cooperation  with  us,  in  per¬ 
fect  consistency  with  our  own  moral  freedom.  Let  us, 
more  than  we  have  done,  realize  what  we  ask  of  God, 
when  we  pray,  “  may  thy  kingdom  come,  and  thy  will  be 
done  on  earth,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven  !” 

.  I  address  this  letter,  gentlemen,  through  you  to  the 
Unitarians  of  our  country ;  and,  as  a  Unitarian,  with  de¬ 
vout  gratitude  and  joy  I  hail  the  beginning  of  a  new  era, 
in  the  recent,  and,  I  hope,  unequivocal  demonstration,  of 
a  foreign  missionary  spirit  among  us.  Scarcely  less  dis¬ 
tinct,  indeed,  is  the  voice  from  India  to  us,  than  was  that 
to  Paul,  “  come  over  to  Macedonia  and  help  us.”  A  Uni¬ 
tarian  society  in  Calcutta,  composed  as  well  of  natives  as 
of  foreigners,  who  have  themselves  contributed  largely  to 
the  work,  solicit  our  assistance  in  establishing  there  a 
perpetual  Unitarian  mission.  Native  gentlemen  of  India 
have  contributed  largely  to  the  cause  of  establishing 
Christian  worship,  upon  Unitarian  principles,  in  their 
country ;  and  they,  with  their  English  associates,  are 
earnestly  requesting  the  aid  of  Unitarians  in  England  and 
America,  for  the  accomplishment  of  their  object.  And 
can  there  be  a  question,  in  this  case,  concerning  our 
duty?  I  leave  it  with  every  man’s  conscience,  in  the^ 
sight  of  God.* 

’“For  information  on  this  subject,  see  the  Christian  Examiner  for 

4 


VOL.  I. 


38 


ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE 


im 


We  live  in  a  time,  peculiarly  favorable  to  every  attempt 
that  can  be  made  for  human  inprovemeiit  and  happiness. 
Nor  is  it  alone  in  those  departments,  to  which  science, 
with  her  new  and  wonderful  discoveries,  has  extended 
her  influence,  that  we  find  a  new  spirit  of  excitement, 
and  of  enterprise.  The  fact,  that  the  long  known  mechan¬ 
ic  powers  are,  of  late,  found  to  possess  capacities,  very 
far  beyond  all  the  uses  to  wiiich  they  had  been  applied  ; 
and  the  fact  too,  not  less  interesting  and  important,  of 
the  discovery  of  a  new  mechanical  agent,  which  may  be 
applied  alike  to  works  the  most  simple,  and  the  most 
complex ;  to  the  greatest  and  grandest  operations,  and  to 
those  which  are  most  minute ;  has  given  an  impulse  to 
inquiry,  and  to  the  spirit  of  discovery,  and  effort,  in  every 
department  of  human  knowledge.  The  idea  is  awakened, 
and  is  abroad,  that  nothing  is  to  be  deemed  impracticable, 
till  it  has  been  fairly  tried ;  and  that  no  exertion  for  an 
object  is  to  be  relaxed,  while  any  means  remain,  which  may 
be  employed  for  its  attainment.  It  is  felt,  that  there  may  be 
new  applications  of  the  known  capacities  of  human  nature, 
not  yet  hinted  at  in  any  of  our  systems  of  mental  philoso¬ 
phy;  and  even  that  new  moral  agents  may  be  discovered, 
which  may  be  employed  to  accomplish  in  the  moral  world, 
changes  and  improvements,  as  great  as  have  been  extended 
to  the  various  departments  of  art,  by  the  power  of  a  new 
physical  agent.  In  Europe,  and  in  our  own  country,  great 
are  the  changes  that  have  been  accomplished,  within  the 
last  fifty  years,  by  the  systems  of  education,  which  have 
been  devised  and  adopted,  and  which  are  widely  extend- 

March  and  April,  1826 ;  and  Professor  Ware’s  Address,  delivered  be» 
fore  the  Berry  Street  Conference,  on  the  31st  May. 


r 


193  MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE.  39 

ing  ;  by  the  multiplication  of  books,  which  grows  with  the 
multiplication  of  readers ;  by  the  new  views  which  have 
been  opened,  and  are  every  where  obtaining,  increased 
and  increasing  attention ;  of  religious  liberty,  and  of  re- 
liorious  rijxhts  ;  and  which  are  awakening  new  convictions, 
and  new  interests,  and  are  giving  a  new  impulse  to 
thought  and  action.  Great  are  the  changes  of  opinion, 
which  are  spreading,  and  which  will  continue  to  spread, 
through  the  nations,  of  the  nature  and  ends  of  civil  gov¬ 
ernment  ;  of  the  rights  of  the  ruled  and  of  the  duty  and 
accountablencss  of  rulers.  And,  I  am  happy  to  say, 
that,  compared  with  any  former  time  since  the  days  of 
the  Apostles,  great,  throughout  Christendom,  is  the  revo¬ 
lution  that  has  been  produced  in  opinion  and  in  feeling, 
concerning  the  relation  of  man  to  man ;  and  concerning 
our  capacity,  and  obligation,  to  extend  to  others  the  bless¬ 
ings,  with  which  God  in  his  mercy  has  distinguished  us, 
in  the  religion  which  he  has  given  us  by  his  Son.  But 
the  principle  which,  more  than  any  other,  has  given  life, 
and  efficiency,  to  our  systems  of  education,  which  has 
peculiarly  multiplied  and  extended  books,  and  which  has 
spread  widely  the  new  sentiments,  that  have  obtained  of 
religious  liberty,  and  of  religious  rights ;  the  principle, 
which  has  given  diffusion  to  the  new  views  which  are  re¬ 
ceived  of  the  nature  and  ends  of  civil  government,  and 
which  has  attempted,  and  done,  what  has  never  before 
been  done,  for  the  universal  extension  of  our  religion,  is, 
the  principle  of  voluntary  association.  And  if  we  may 
infer  what  it  may  do,  from  what  it  has  done,  where  shall 
we  fix  the  limits  of  its  power,  and  of  its  consequences  1 
Look  alone  to  the  Bible  societies,  the  anti-slavery  societies, 


194 


40  ON  THE  PRINCIPLES,  d::.c. 

the  pfeJce  societies,  and  the  religious  missionary  societies 
of  England  and  of  America,  and  say,  what  is  to  arrest 
their:  progress,  and  their  effects  ?  Opinion  has  been  call¬ 
ed  the  lever,  by  which  society  is  now  moved,  and  its 
vast  operations  are  directed,  and  controled.  But  I  should 
rather  call  it  the  ground  on  which  the  lever  is  fixed,  by 
which  the  world  is  moved.  The  mighty  agent,  by  which 
those  changes  have  been  accomplished,  which  are  every 
day  exciting  new  admiration,  and  new  expectations  con¬ 
cerning  the  moral  and  the  political  condition  of  the 
world,  is,  the  power  of  voluntary  association.  It  is  a 
power,  which,  like  knowledge,  and  like  wealth,  may  be 
made  as  conducive  to  evil  as  to  good.  But  let  all  the 
virtuous  and  the  wise  feel  its  importance,  and  faithful¬ 
ly  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  employ  it  with  the  calm,  and 
steady,  and  persevering  zeal  which  should  characterize 
Christians;  and,  with  God’s  blessing  on  the  work,  it  will 
not  long  be  doubtful  to  any  mind,  whether  indeed  the 
enterprise  be  feasible,  of  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

I  will  only  add  my  hearty  good  wishes  for  the  prosper¬ 
ity  of  your  association ;  and  my  hope  that,  while  we  are 
aiming  at  the  advancement  of  our  religion  at  home,  we 
may  all  be  excited  to  do  what  we  can,  to  bring  every 
knee  to  bow  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  every  tongue  to 
confess  him  to  be  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.” 

With  great  respect  and  affection, 

I  am  truly  yours, 

Joseph  Tuckerman. 


Chelsea,  June  Sth,  1826, 


